Recommendation on great CD player ?

bhobba · « **Reply #20 on:** 3 Feb 2006, 02:08 am »

Hi All

Personally I would forget about a CD player - move to comouter audio like a modded SB2/3. Evidently they leave everything except the very best (and most expensive) transports and DAC in thier wake and at a much cheper price:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=20939
You can also save money - no preamp required.

Thanks
Bill

jqp · « **Reply #21 on:** 3 Feb 2006, 03:29 am »

Transports do make a difference both in performance and longevity, its just mechanics.

An audio CD has to spin accurately at 500 rmp, so fast that it generates wind noise, and a CDP obviously has vibration to deal with. A CD transport also has to do 200 RPM accurately. Then there is the quality of the laser, the pickup electronics, the drawer mechanism.

A CD transport can be designed for high end audio, or it can be lowest common denominator used for any disposible optical application.

So if you want to play mp3s its no difference, if you want high-end audio it is a big differnce. Most transports you can find today are fairly low quality. There is a lot of error correction going on.

I have a ~$500 CD-1 which I believe is basically a $3000 California Audio Delta/Sigma or something close to that. It is very good. There may be better out there but I think this one has a very good transport.

CJ Paul · « **Reply #22 on:** 3 Feb 2006, 02:27 pm »

Jitter is an oft debated topic, but if you believe jitter can impact the end sound, then of course a better CDP as a transport is better than cheap one.

skrivis · « **Reply #23 on:** 3 Feb 2006, 03:16 pm »

Quote from: michaelv

How can you tell that one transport is better than another? I see some CPD is really heavy, and some is really light. So i guess heavier is better. What about put CDP on isolation platform?

Beats me how you tell.

Since you have a Rotel CDP, maybe you could just add a DAC to that? Does it have digital outs? I really think that the DAC will make more difference than the transport, especially at reasonable price levels.

skrivis · « **Reply #24 on:** 3 Feb 2006, 03:22 pm »

Quote from: jqp

Transports do make a difference both in performance and longevity, its just mechanics.

An audio CD has to spin accurately at 500 rmp, so fast that it generates wind noise, and a CDP obviously has vibration to deal with. A CD transport also has to do 200 RPM accurately. Then there is the quality of the laser, the pickup electronics, the drawer mechanism.

A CD transport can be designed for high end audio, or it can be lowest common denominator used for any disposible optical application.

So if you w ...

CD ROM and DVD ROM drives are pretty cheap too, and I haven't noticed any problems with getting the data off of them intact. Bits are bits, so why would a CD transport be different?

CJ Paul · « **Reply #25 on:** 3 Feb 2006, 03:25 pm »

Quote

Bits are bits, so why would a CD transport be different?

Jitter. You're right, bits are bits, and when a crappy transport sends the wrong bit to the DAC (be it internal or an external DAC) or messes up the timing, it can compromise the sound. Here's one of hundreds of articles on jitter http://stereophile.com/features/368/

skrivis · « **Reply #26 on:** 3 Feb 2006, 05:05 pm »

Quote from: CJ Paul

Quote
Bits are bits, so why would a CD transport be different?
Jitter. You're right, bits are bits, and when a crappy transport sends the wrong bit to the DAC (be it internal or an external DAC) or messes up the timing, it can compromise the sound. Here's one of hundreds of articles on jitter http://stereophile.com/features/368/

I thought most DACs these days reclock the signal?

michaelv · « **Reply #27 on:** 7 Feb 2006, 03:44 pm »

What do you think of the following CD players?

Arcam FMJ 23 or 192
Cambridge Audio 640C
Musical Fidelity A3.5 or A5
Jolida 100A

Thanks.

nickspicks · « **Reply #28 on:** 8 Feb 2006, 12:35 pm »

ok, i'll toss in.

keep your rotel, add a monarchy audio DIP processer and a bel canto 2.0 DAC.
you'll be right around a grand w/that. and it will sound very, very nice. a solid transport, the DIP is worth its weight in gold for jitter reduciton and the belcanto is a wonderful piece.

OR..
sell your rotel, add the money to your budget and buy a used deck. say your budget is now $1500, that will buy you a $2500 player from a couple years ago. and you know it *should* be pretty hot for that class of player.

I use a Toshiba SD9200 DVD-A player. it was $500 used. It was around $2k new maybe 5 years ago.
If I sold it tomorrow, i could probably get what I paid for it. but I'm not selling.

Loftprojection · « **Reply #29 on:** 8 Feb 2006, 02:46 pm »

Quote from: michaelv

What do you think of the following CD players?

Arcam FMJ 23 or 192
Cambridge Audio 640C
Musical Fidelity A3.5 or A5
Jolida 100A

Thanks.

I bought my Arcam FMJ CD23T about a year ago. When I shopped for it, I had listened to the 192, the Cambridge 640, the MF A3.5, the Jolida 100A and a few others (Cyrus, Audio Refinement, Shanling, Naim).

To my taste, the CD23T was the nicest. The Jolida and Cambridge are nice but not in the same league. The MF is very good but it's not a sound that I like, somehow it doesn't get to me as much as the Arcam sound. If you have the opportunity, make sure you can listen to the Arcam and the MF then choose the one that fits most your taste.